September 20, 2010

Vintaging in The City of Roses (Portland, OR)

Being that Portland is mostly populated by artsy young'uns with a penchant for collecting kitsch, it is thereby considered a holy ground of vintaging possibilities. So with a list two-pages long of places to hit, but only one day in which to explore, we hustled and left with lots of great platters, for both our turntable, and our palettes.

After arriving at our friends Phil & Carla's lovely home (which was picture perfect, straight out of Dwell, behold their TV room below), we headed out to N.E. Portland and Jump Jump Records (see also below) and picked up Patrice Rushen, Jean Luc-Ponti, and an LP from 1960 of Tennessee Williams reading The Glass Menagerie, with a dreamy cover by Andy Warhol. Side note: at $60, it was the most i've ever spent on a record in my life, but i'd been on the hunt for it forever and wouldn't have passed it up for the world, especially since it was probably the only time Andy had to draw a unicorn.

In the Hollywood district, we had near-panic attacks at the enormity of Periodicals Paradise, which for collectors of vintage magazines, like me, was indeed like arriving in Xanadu. We got mags on hippie arts & crafts, early-'70s issues of House Beautiful, and an Interview from 1987 with Anjelica Huston gracing the cover.

We were then fascinated by the elegant simplicity of Ampersand, a rare bookshop/art gallery, specializing in unusual printed ephemera, including bins of old photographs, and macabre paper curiosities. My purchase was a sought after biography on Georgia O'Keeffe. Then the kind sir at Ampersand suggested we grab lunch across the street at La Bonita, which practically had me drooling, as I live in NY, where authentic Mexican is hard to find, and I long for the molés of my California youth . . .

After perfect pipiàn tacos and homemade horchata we bopped around to various vintage clothing boutiques, like Hattie's, Bombshell, and Rad Summer, but nothing really spoke to us., so we picked up our friends Phil and Lev, and headed to for authentic Northern Thai at Pok Pok, which left us feeling culinarily adventurous, yet didn't kill us. Though the outdoor setting of the restaurant is fabulous, with thatched roofs, bamboo partitions, and colored Christmas lights giving it a magical glow. Here's a nice photo of Phil after dinner, holding the adorable little Bowie, as well as the Bagdad Theater's amazing neon signage . . .

What did live up to its hype beyond the moon and stars however, was breakfast at Pine State Biscuits, where we met our beloved friends Fawn Gehweiler (who is featured in Vintage LA) & her DJ beau Jeff (who also turned us on to Jump Jump, and who has wickedly wonderful musical taste). Pine State served us a now legendary meal which won't soon be forgotten . . . perfect eggs on warm fluffy biscuits, Nic's smothered in gravy, and mine dipped in honey. This place is probably the #1 reason to move to Portland, along with all the beautiful floral-lined streets, amazing neon signage, old theatres, and adorable food trucks. Check out Fawn and her amazing Cher hair . . .

After eating dream biscuits, we headed over to Fawn & Jeff's adorbz gingerbread house, filled to the brim with amazing tzotchkes, psychedelic pottery, a lovely cat, and one bitchin record collection . . .